


Gotham Crows

by ForsakenMae16



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, Attempt at Humor, BAMFs, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Family Feels, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Friendship, Horror Elements, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, Magic, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Psychological Horror, Romance, Secrets, Slow Build, Superpowers, There's so many people in this please don't make me tag them all, Timeline What Timeline, is it minor? maybe, maybe smut idk yet, not just one pfff, still can't tag after three years
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21866608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForsakenMae16/pseuds/ForsakenMae16
Summary: Charlotte Blum is the newest addition to Bruce Wayne's 𝚝̶𝚘̶𝚢̶ ̶𝚌̶𝚘̶𝚕̶𝚕̶𝚎̶𝚌̶𝚝̶𝚒̶𝚘̶𝚗̶ family that is pretty much solely, with the occasional exception, made up of orphans. She did at least fit those criteria, actually being overqualified, having been through the ordeal twice. Semantics, really.But alas, that was just the beginning of the trainwreck that had crashed into the dumpster fire she called her life.
Relationships: Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Batfamily Members & Other(s), Jason Todd/Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Roy Harper & Jason Todd, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, original character/unknown
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. playlist and mtm.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the playlist and the list of face claims for the story.  
> I couldn't help but use the main cast of Shadowhunters because I'm a sucker for when characters have lots of stuff for edits and what's better than them already being in the same gifs and pics together :D (and so my bff doesn't rip my head of for using OCs that have virtually nothing to work with for videos :') )
> 
> Click 'LINK' for the playlist to this story on Spotify!
> 
> (P.S.: remind me to never do these gifs with HTML again because my brain is fried and I gave up and used to Rich Text which in hindsight was so much smarter icri)

🎵🏳️🌈 **["No music, no life."]** 🏳️🌈🎵

 **I**. Ribs - Lorde ⚜ **II**. DNA - Lia Marie Johnson ⚜ **III**. Stronger - The Score ⚜ **IV**. On the Train Ride Home - The Paper Kites ⚜ **V**. Stand By Me - Ki:Theory ⚜ **VI**. Mt. Washington - Local Natives ⚜ **VII**. WAKE ME UP - B.A.P ⚜ **VII**. Heathens - Twenty One Pilots ⚜ **IX**. Scream - Dreamcatcher ⚜ **X**. Black Swan - BTS ⚜ **XI**. Glory and Gore - Lorde ⚜ **XII**. bury a friend - Billie Eilish ⚜ **XII**. Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia ⚜ **XIV**. Be There - Krewella ⚜ **XV**. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen ⚜ **XVI**. Midnight City - M83 ⚜ **XVII**. Run Away With Me - Carly Rae Jepsen ⚜ **XVIII**. Ember - Katherine McNamara ⚜ **XIX**. Night Time - The fin. ⚜ **XX**. So What - BTS ⚜ **XXI**. Silent Night - Dreamcatcher ⚜ **XXII**. Mice - Billie Marten ⚜ **XXIII.** Forest Fire - Brighton ⚜ **XXIV.** Supergirl - Anna Naklab, Alle Farben ⚜ **XXV.** Karasu - ONE OK ROCK

_ **Extras** _

**Dollhouse - Melanie Martinez;** Night Trouble - Petit Biscuit **; Youth - Daughter;** Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons; **Bad Reputation - Joan Jett** ; Crow Song - Angel Beats; **Give Yourself a Try - The 1975** ; Disturbia - Rihanna

_⚜[ **LINK **](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49yrTTDsJ28tRlqQuyS5yK?si=BOu7AHbcTTig5LXHxpQfvg)⚜_

_+_

▽ **m t m** ▽

✦Katherine McNamara _as_ **Charlotte Emeri Blum** **✧** ****

**ϟ** Emeraude Toubia _as_ **Desdemona Aleka Papadakis ϟ**

☄ Alberto Rosende _as_ **Samuel Julian Parker** ☄

➶ Matthew Daddario _as_ **Amos Damen Papadakis** ➶

**⚔** Dominic Sherwood _as_ **Nathaniel Caleb Evans** **⚔**

❄ Morena Baccarin _as_ **Juliana Evelyn Winters** ❄


	2. ↞ prologue. ↠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm posting something again because I have no sense of self-preservation at this point and I'm just not feeling this story too much on Wattpad, which admittedly, is pretty sad because I worked a lot on this over there but whatever, right? New year, new website and all that.
> 
> Translations can be found in the note at the end :)

## ↞ prologue. ↠

 **Charlotte** tittered as she watched her father twirl her mum around, clapping excitedly when he dipped her down, almost to the point where they fell over. 

The move made her parents laugh as they caught themselves and leaned against the other, trying to catch their breath from all the laughing and moving around. 

Max poked her side, causing the older girl to look down at her younger brother, brows furrowing when he gave her a shy smile, looking into the direction of their parents. The two were still twirling around the living room, the old music blasting from the stereo over the fireplace.

Charlie knew what he was asking for. It made her smile. Max had always been pretty shy and often asked her to join him with whatever he was doing so he wasn't alone. Or to make sure he didn't mess up, which rarely happened. He was three, almost four years younger than her. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the stairs and into the living room so they could join their mum and dad. Both copied their moves and got into the rhythm of the song right away. Max was more chaotic and clumsy with his moves, including jumping on the couch.

Emma, their mum laughed as she watched her youngest child bounce all over the place, for once not caring if there were eyes on him, looking at him as he "danced" wildly.

Andy was quick to grab his daughter, swinging her around and twirling in circles until they were both dizzy. "Schön das ihr doch mitmacht, Krähchen." his grin showed off his pearly whites and only widened when Charlie squealed loudly.

"Papa, ich bin viel zu schwer zum hochheben!" 

"Quatsch, du bist leicht wie ne Feder!" he proceeded to throw her over his shoulder, getting more protest from the young girl. "Siehst du, ganz lei-" Andy grunted when he got a foot to his stomach, dramatically dropping to the floor, not moving for effects. 

Charlie wasn't fazed, but her brother certainly was. "Papa! Oh nein!" 

"What did I say about German?" Emma was doing her best to look stern as her husband jumped up and attacked their boy with tickles, though she couldn't quite stop the smile that was forming as she watched Max shriek and giggle loudly. 

"To use it less and that we're supposed to use English, even at home, so we get better?" Charlie huffed when her mother ruffled her hair, making it even frizzy than it already was. 

"Sorry, babe. Sometimes we just forget. But the kids are already so good, ne? After all, we made a point to raise them bilingual. My idea, actually. In case we get back or meet the others again-"

"Yeah yeah." Emma cut him off, giving him a look that screamed 'Shhh!' to Charlie. 

The young girl often witnessed moments like this, with either of her parents shushing or purposefully nudging the other, signaling them to be quiet, like they didn't want to say too much about what it was that they didn't want to talk about. And after being told not to ask, she stopped caring anyway. 

Well, mostly at least. Charlie had always been a bit too curious for her own good. 

"So, how about we all-" Andy stopped when the doorbell rang, followed by insistent knocking. The loud sounds echoed through the house, especially since the music had stopped and no one was talking or even moving. "You stay here, I'll be right back."

Charlie wrapped her arms around her brother, pulling him close when he bumped into her, him reciprocating and holding on tightly.

More banging followed as Charlie's mum hurriedly grabbed her husband's hand. "No, wait. Don't go- It's him. I can feel it. He's here."

Andy cut her off quickly. "Em, we talked about this. We knew this might happen, we had a-"

"Plan, yes. I know. But that obviously just went out the window. Don't- Just- At least take something with you."

Charlotte's brain just about short-circuited when both her parents waved their hands and had weapons appear in them. "Mama? What's going on- Who is that? How did you do that?"

Emma kneeled before Max and her, smiling sadly as tears sprung to her eyes, looking up at her husband who didn't look much better. He leaned down, hugging all three of them tightly, to the point where it began hurting. 

"I love you all so much. I'm sorry we didn't tell you before."

"Tell us what? Mama?"

"Sorry, baby. I really am. But we were scared and I'm afraid we don't have any time for explanations now. This- It wasn't supposed to go like this. This whole thing is the reason we had to move and-" Another loud bang made all of them freeze. 

"I have to go now. I love you. I'll be right back." with a last wink, her father disappeared down the hall, armed with what looked like a bright silver spear. 

"That idiot." Despite everything, despite this situation, he still had the gall to wink.

"Mama, where is daddy going?" Max spoke up for the first time since the banging had started, his voice shaky and tears running down his cheeks.

They all jumped when they heard the front door burst open, followed by crashing and fighting sounds. Emma couldn't even answer before a bright, white light shone from the direction of the hallway, which was followed by an eery silence. 

"Ma?" Charlie's voice shook, gasping when her mother pushed the two of them behind her and got into a stance. Never before had Charlie seen her look so dangerous and fierce, especially not with a glinting sword held in her hand. 

Once more a bright ray of light hit them, this time directly blinding them for a few seconds. When everything was back to normal, a masked figure was standing in the doorway. 

"Honey, I'm home~" his voice made the two children shiver, huddling closer together behind the couch, not taking their eyes off the man. "I expected more of a welcome if I'm honest."

"You!" her mother snarled, charging at the man. 

Just as she hit him, the light came back and this time Charlie couldn't keep herself awake to see what had happened. All she heard was a scream, followed by a thud that chilled her to the core.

"Mama!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations in a row:  
> A: "Nice of you to join after all, little crow."  
> C: "Papa, I'm way too heavy to pick up!"  
> A: "Nonsense, you're as light as a feather!" + "See, light as-"  
> M: "Papa, oh no!"
> 
> This was just a short, (not so) sweet prologue to start this whole thing. Over to the first chapter next :D


	3. ↞ i. rebirth. ↠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter, yay!
> 
> If you've got any thoughts, questions or ideas, don't be afraid to hit me up in the comments :) Do you like the whole idea with the pictures and gifs or should I not bother with them? (I like them but you know :) )
> 
> I've come to love these characters like my own children and this story has been sitting around for ages before I dared to publish it. Finally got around to do it on here and it's honestly the first time I've been somewhat productive. 2019 took a toll on my physical and mental health and while I do not have any answers whatsoever, I'll keep trying to get better. Fighting!

_Chapter One_

_**| Rebirth |** _

_⛧_ _**⋆⋆⋆** _ _⛧_

" **Did** I ever tell you that you're one of the biggest idiots on this planet?" 

"Well actually, yes. All the time. I've learned to ignore it so my precious feelings don't get hurt. I'm already a wounded child, mind you." 

Charlotte stared at her friend blankly, not blinking for an entire minute, making the blond boy shift uncomfortably. 

"I hate it when you do that. That- that stare of utter disappointment and eternal abyss. Eyebrows of disappointment." Nathan covered his eyes with both hands, though still peeking through them to see the redhead smirk. 

"Can't help it. You're the one that's draining all my life energy. It's like I'm out of Mana when you're around."

"Wow, really feeling the love here, you shitty nerd."

"As if you're one to talk, Mr. I-play-Bach-at-midnight while sitting under the moonlight for dramatic effect." Charlotte shot back, huffing as she pulled herself over the fence, landing in a crouch on the other side, waiting for Nathan to follow her. She stared in disdain at the hole that had been ripped into her favorite pair of jeans just a few minutes ago when they had climbed over another fence.

"What can I say? Drama is my middle name." The blonde boy smirked, gracefully landing beside her, dusting his hands off on his pants. His smirk only grew as he regarded the tear in her jeans. "Just a little higher and one might be able to see what kind of underwear you're wearing today-" 

Charlie cut him off by slamming her elbow into his stomach harshly, pointing ahead at the figures that walking towards them. "First, your middle name is Caleb. Second, if it was anything but that, it would be Idiot, and thirdly, I think the others are here." 

"Why always the gut?" Nathan wheezed painfully, leaning forward to catch his breath.

From a few meters behind them, a huff followed by a snort echoed through the alley. "Did Nathan talk shit again or why does he look like he's just about to re-enact the diner accident from two months ago?" 

Charlotte chuckled, although she cringed on the inside. That was not something she wanted to remember exactly, but alas, that image was probably forever stuck in each of their brains. "He did. The usual." she walked towards the brunette, greeting him with a warm hug. "Hey, Sam." 

The boy smiled brightly at her when she let go, his dimples showing. "What's up, Miss Charlie?" 

"Miss Charlie!" a black and red blur crashed into both Charlie and Sam, almost sending them down to the floor. 

"Hi to you too, Des" Charlie groaned, quickly hugging back so Des would let go and not nearly break her spine again. "Also, can you stop calling me that? It's awkward enough that I have to deal with that at home."

Desdemona cooed, patting the redhead's head even though she was much shorter than Charlie. "Yes, of course, my awkward child." Both knew, by morning she'd already start calling her that again. Des was a sieve-brain like that. 

"So," Amos spoke up, coming to stand beside Nathan after greeting him. "What's the grand plan? Urbex or what? Are Lost Places a new thing on your YouTube channels or-?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I mean, tempting to start that as a hobby, but no. Don't give me the look. This is on Nathan."

"Should've guessed as much." Amos threw a look at said boy, aka his best friend and cousin, who threw his hands up in defense. "One day, I will not be shocked by anything anymore. You could stab me with my own arrows during practice and I wouldn't be surprised."

"Rude. I would never." Nathan huffed in offense, leading the group down the alley that was located in one of the far corners of underground Gotham. It was overgrown with ivy, narrow and over-all old and rundown. "Last time I was around here I found something, but before I could check it out, some thugs showed up and I really didn't feel like getting into a fight."

Charlie found herself playing with the butterfly knife that was in her pocket, eyeing the baseball bat that was resting on Des' back. A soft caw to her right distracted her momentarily, finding herself staring at the animal and its six companions that were perched on a high fence, seemingly scouting the area. One more caw from yet another crow that joined the circle and they dissipated. Charlie tilted her head. _Weird_. 

She ignored the strange sensation that overcame her for a few seconds, willing it away to focus on the present. Coming down here wasn't a thing they did often, after all, knowing what kind of people hung around here sometimes. But usually, not many found their way down here. Maybe some of the bigger criminals, when they had to hide and wait out a situation. "Watch out for any kind of trap. The Riddler likes messing around down here. Most of them are reserved for his nemesis though."

"Batman will sure have a blast again this year. Mr. Green seems to be up to some shady shit." Des noted, pointing behind her with her thumb. "Saw a few shining, bright green question marks some way down the road."

"When are we not careful?" 

Sam stared at Nathan in disbelief. "Um, I don't know. Like, right now maybe?" he waved his arms all around vigorously to prove his point. He paused when they stopped in front of the building. "What the heck is a church doing down here?"

"I asked myself the same thing, but then again, it probably looked a lot better down here, back when it was built. But that's definitely not the weirdest thing about this place." Nathan looked around, to make sure they were alone and that everyone was watching him. "Check this out." The boy stepped forward, stopping in front of the big, cast-iron gate and reached out, his coming to a quick halt when it touched a barrier. 

"What the-?" Charlie gasped, watching as the bright purple, translucent wall seemingly wrapped itself around the tall fences, shooting up high into the air. Unable to stop herself, she too touched the wall, feeling little electric shocks running through her hand and up her arm. "Ouch. Shit, what is this?"

"#OnlyinGotham." 

"Not the time, sis." Amos scolded, rolling his eyes and slapping Des' hand down when she was about to place it on the barrier. "Can we all agree that this is absolutely not normal and we should probably not be here, at all."

"Brotheeeerrr, don't be like that. This could actually be fun. Remember fun? That thing you used to have when you were younger?" Des cackled when he reached out to flick her head, dodging the "attack" just in time, only to almost trip over an empty can. "Ow, heck," she whined, kicking it down the alley, the clattering sound echoing loudly through it and earning herself glares from her friends. "Oops." 

"I wanna see what's inside." Nathan piped up, turning back to the church.

"Me too," Charlie admitted, albeit a bit reluctant. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. It was Friday night, no one was waiting for her at home and it had been ages since they'd done something remotely as exciting as this. She prided herself on having a good intuition usually, and being here, doing this, it somehow felt right. 

"Me three." Sam followed, planting himself down firmly next to Charlie, grinning down at her. He was about three or four inches taller than her, a good 5'10". Her response was to send a grin back, bumping hips with him. 

Des was standing in front of the mysterious barrier in less than a second. "Me four!" she looked back to see her brother not moving an inch, his arms crossed. "Amos, please." Desdemona groaned, tapping her foot impatiently. 

The raven-haired boy finally gave in after several protests and puppy eyes were thrown at him, sliding into the spot between his sister and Nathan. "Just so you know, if we die, this is on you. And I will relish in telling you 'I told you so', for all eternity in the afterlife." the others only rolled their eyes, used to this kind of behavior from their friend and brother. 

Charlie took a breath, and after looking at her friends to make sure they were all on-board with going through, she raised her hand. "Okay, we do it all at the same. Just- think of getting in, I suppose?"

"Great advice, genius." 

The redhead glared at her blonde friend. "Shut up and push."

5 hands hesitantly made their way to the barrier to sit flat atop the wall and the reaction was nearly immediate. Electricity ran through their veins creating colorful streaks of purple and blue to run up their arms. In the haze of electric shocks, the quintet was blind to the ripping in the barrier. Blind until the sudden sensation of falling overcame them. 

The sight of the abandoned church was almost as breathtaking as seeing an aged woman that wouldn't let time take away from her beauty. She stood tall and proud, not letting the cracks and rot take away from her ethereal vision. Flowered vines crawled up the towering walls, wrapping around giant windows which glimmered elegantly as the moonlight reflected upon them. 

The quintet was breathless at the mere sight of the church, each wondering how much more alluring the aged building would look in the daylight.

As they proceeded to walk towards the church, their eyes seemed to never stop jumping from one spot to the other. It would be impossible to decide which part of the church was more beautiful.

"Holy crap," Charlie swore, hesitantly stepping forward as her friends looked around the court. A dried out well sat in the middle of it, showing hints of what probably used to be a beautiful statue. From the outside, beyond the barrier, it had seemed like one gust of wind would cause the entire building to collapse, its fences ruined and overgrown with ugly, dark plants. 

Now, everything looked so much more alive, it was stunning, utterly fascinating. The moonlight caused the rainbow-colored glass windows to shine brightly, even at a late time like this. The fences were cast-iron, dark and stood tall and proud, almost completely intact. The flowers that had been dried out, dying, were now blooming and fresh, although all over the place, randomly scattered here and there. 

"I need rainbow windows." gushed Desdemona from next to Charlie. "Anyhow, we're going in, right?"

"Obviously. We didn't just break a Disney curse over nothing. The power of friendship will prevail against all evil and that bullshit. Whatever might be in there, can't be that bad, right?"

Amos shot a doubtful look at his cousin. "Sure, Nathan. Whatever floats your boat. You go ahead with Sam and the girls will stay behind us-" he stopped when he realized said girls were already at the doors. "Why do I even try?" he muttered to himself, quickly following the boys to the grand entrance.

The door was just as impressive as the rest of the church, even though the paint was chipping and it had a big dent right in the middle. "Someone tried getting in before." Charlie concluded, ignoring Des saying 'or something' in a spooky voice. The redhead grasped her knife in one hand, using the other to bang it against the tall, wooden door multiple times. She heard the sound resonate on the inside, and nothing but silence followed. "Seems clear for now. Get your bat out, just in case," she told the black-haired girl, who quickly complied. 

She moved to the other side of the door, taking cover behind it. To her surprise, the doorknob twisted without a problem, and with a satisfying click, the door swung open. "See anything?" 

"Nope." All of them peaked inside, and just like Charlotte suspected, it was also in surprisingly good shape. Former pots that held plants were on the floor in shards, looking as if they had been blown to pieces, the detailed mosaic tiles covered in dead plants and dirt. Papers littered the floor, along with empty cardboard boxes and other things. 

"Entrance hall, I'm guessing." Sam walked inside first, Charlie right by his side, clutching his hand with her own. The boy suppressed another grin and looked around the small hallway. On each side was a double door, extravagant in style. It seemed like a typical, gothic church. 

The exterior of the abandoned building was enchanting enough to knock the socks off anyone but the quintet soon came to realize that was only a portion of the beauty as they began the trek through the towering doors.

Immediately, they were left breathless. Partially because of the overwhelming amount of dust.  
Once that cleared up, though, they could see the true beauty that lay underneath the dirt and grime. They walked through the hallway, noting the broken down benches on either side of them.

The quintet quickly made their way through the doors that hung off the hinges at the end of the hall and were faced with a giant room that held dozens of computers and futuristic equipment. For now, they left the other two double doors in the entrance hall alone. 

It made Desdemona giddy to see so much electronics, and she found herself wanting to explore those more but with a quick glance at her brother she rolled her eyes and went back to following the group. 

Weirdly enough, most of the LEDs were still running, illuminating everything in blue light. "Can anyone maybe like, find a light switch?" Sam asked, bumping into a box stuffed with paper, almost falling over it. Luckily Charlie caught him by the arm before that could happen.

"I don't know about a light switch, but what about the main switch?" a loud clank and a few seconds later, and the building came to life, all the lights turning on at once. The quintet blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness. "Hm. Someone must still be paying the bills." Nathan observed with a smirk, taking in the room, still in awe, just like his friends.

The entire room had a built-in walkway that went around it almost completely, a good three feet above the normal floor. On each side, it led into different hallways that were probably connected at the end. A staircase led up to said walkway on the right side.

The right side of the main room held servers, the big screens that Des was still ogling and more desks with more "normal-looking" computers. In the middle of the wall was one of the big rainbow windows like the ones they'd seen on the outside already, although this one was round, a perfect circle with old, solid marble sitting in the middle of it.

On the left side, a couple of stairs led to what seemed to have been a training room. Tall glass walls separated it from the main room, still keeping it open enough to be able to observe everything perfectly. 

The main room's ceiling was supported by tall, marble pillars that weren't the newest, but nevertheless in a pretty good condition, with some of the old grandeur of the delicate decorations and details still being visible. 

"Careful, there's a lot of glass here," Sam warned the others, stepping over it. "Man, this place really needs renovating."

"This place needs style. It's a rough gem waiting to be cut and turned into a shining diamond." Everyone turned to stare at Desdemona with a wtf-look on their faces. "What? You can't tell me you aren't appreciating the aesthetic."

Charlie sighed, choosing to move on rather than bother with whatever Des was on to. She was curious as to what more this place had to offer. "Who do you think lived here? Seems too big for just a few people. An army could literally live down here and no one would notice. No one did, apparently. What did they need all this advanced technology for?"

"Looks like an evil masterminds former hideout to me, to be honest. Evil lair and shit. Maybe we'll find some dangerous alien weapons? Or even plans for world destruction?" 

Amos groaned. "You should really stop being so excited about potential horrible deaths, Nathan." he had been quiet the whole time, busy glaring holes into the whole place. "Can't we just leave this place now? This all seems fishy to me. Why would anyone without bad intentions have a base like this? This smells like something evil and bad and just all over like a horrible idea."

Nathan made a show of smelling the air in a theatrical way. "Nope, all I smell is an adventure."

"Don't forget the smell of fun." Des piped in, grinning at her brother and poking her tongue out at him when his glare hardened. "No wonder he doesn't have a boyfriend," she muttered to her blonde cousin who choked on his spit, laughing loudly. 

"Guys, let's just check out the rooms in the back. We can leave if there's nothing else. Like your "weapons of mass destruction" or whatever."

"And what if there actually are some of those?" Sam asked, fiddling with his sweater sleeve, a nervous habit of his. 

Charlie thought it was pretty cute. She had a weakness for sweater paws anyways. "It's not like we'd touch anything." she pointedly gave Des a look. "If we do, we'll report it to officials, or someone."

That, at least, seemed to calm Amos a bit. Maybe today just wasn't his day. Usually, he wasn't in such a bad mood. Grumpy yes, but not **this** bad.

About half an hour later, they'd discovered more training rooms, one of them with a tall ceiling and big archways and even bigger ornamented, colorful windows. There was a weapon's room that they purposely stayed away from, although Nathan managed to play around with a razor-sharp broadsword for a minute and ended up cutting his palm in the process. 

"These jeans are officially beyond repair." Charlie stared at her favorite jeans with remorse, eyeing the huge tears and now the crimson blood staining the fabric. "What did my jeans ever do to you?"

"It was on a crisp winter night, last year when they-"

"Shut up. I don't even want to hear your bullshit for one second. I'm mad at you right now." the redhead ignored his whine, accepting the tissue from Sam with a smile and used it to wipe her hands and at least dry the pants a bit.

Another fifteen minutes later, they found themselves in the main office. 

"This was probably the big bad's place. His evil plan-crafting-place." 

Each of them looked around the room, flipping through books and papers, trying to find out who had once occupied the church.

"Woah, this hand mirror is really pretty." Desdemona gushed, gingerly picking it up. It was a glossy, pitch-black that seemed to absorb all the light around it, its decorations were sparse but beautiful nonetheless. A few flourishes here and there, raking their way up the handle. 

Both Charlie and Sam eyed it, before looking at each other, eyebrows furrowed. There was something weird about it. 

"Des. Put it down. We don't know if there's anything wrong with it." Amos warned his younger sister, earning a groan of annoyance. The others shifted uncomfortably when Des did of course not comply.

"Can't you just leave me alone for once? It's literally just a mirror. A mirror, Amos. Nothing more."

Many relationships between siblings go something like this; Older sibling protects younger sibling. It's sweet, yes, but if the older sibling constantly babies the younger sibling it becomes bothersome. This was the case with the Papadakis siblings.

Amos and Desdemona were constantly in arguments because of this and their current argument was nothing different.

"I said put it down, Desdemona." Amos' strained voice showed his frustration with his sister very clearly. 

"And I said leave me the hell alone" Des hissed back, clenching the handle of the hand mirror so tight her knuckles turned white.

Charlie, having enough of their arguments, tried to come in-between them. "Come on, guys. Let's stop arguing-" The redhead was cut off by Amos. 

"Stop acting like such a brat." He said, standing tall and staring his sister down, barely acknowledging Charlie.

"Stop treating me like a child," Desdemona spoke through clenched teeth as she stared Amos right in the eyes, unaffected by his reddening face and raging eyes. 

"Well if you would actually grow up and not act like one, maybe I would. You know what, this is exactly why mom and dad never trusted you with anything. You're fucking useless." In the midst of his heated rant, he failed to see the hurt in Desdemona's eyes just as he failed to notice the tears that stained her flushed cheeks.

Her voice shook as she croaked out a, "Fuck you".

Charlie, blazing with anger towards Amos decided to take away the source of this argument only to be shoved away by Des.

One of the only two not in the middle of the argument began to notice something strange with the hand mirror. His pleas for them to stop went unheard as Nathan pulled him away from the trio. A tug-o-war began between the two girls as they each held on to a side of the mirror with Des still yelling at Charlie to go away. 

No one could predict the following courses of action, except maybe Samuel. It was almost like it happened in slow motion.

The mirror slipping out of the girls' clutches was the last thing the quintet could process before the clink of the hand mirror making contact with the floor deafened them. A flash of violet blinded them as they were blasted back. Some landed only a few feet from their original positions but others like Charlie were blasted through walls.

Well, it was only Charlie who managed to get blasted **through** walls while others landed **on** them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my best friend. I couldn't have done this without you. Thank you so much for helping me with this and supporting me. Doing these things is always so much more fun with you. I can't put into words how grateful I am to have you in my life. 
> 
> Love you <4
> 
> And everyone who read this, thank you! Every single read means so much to me and each kudos and comment as well. Lots of love and good things your way <3


	4. ↞ ii. broken walls. ↠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onto the next chapter, it is :3  
> I hope anyone enjoys this like, at all.  
> I used to, lmao.  
> It's hard to enjoy much these days. Enough negativity from me though, heh. Have fun!  
> This part is definitely one of the longer chapters.

_Chapter Two_

**_| Broken Walls |_ **

_⛧_ _**⋆⋆⋆** _ _⛧_

**A** loud groan left Charlie's throat as she slowly came back to her senses. Her whole body hurt, pain shooting through her spine the moment she dared to move her legs and arms. The room she was in was dark, the single source of light coming from ahead of her. She was grateful for it because even looking into that dim light was making her eyes sting as she lifted her head to take in her surroundings.

"What the hell happened?" she whispered to herself, slowly sitting up and eyeing all the dust and rubble that covered the floor, the walls and of course, herself. "There's no way I'll ever wear these jeans again." Gradually, the memories came back to her. She'd been blasted through a damn wall. That at least explained the huge hole in it. "Why is it always me?" she whined, before trying to get her shit together and get up.

Weirdly enough, she was fine. There were cuts, scratches and there would definitely be bruises, but nothing felt broken, twisted or sprained. Perhaps her knee would cause some discomfort in the next few days, but it could've been way worse.

"Guys?" she called out, waiting anxiously for an answer. Getting none, Charlie's worries grew. Moving towards the hole in the wall, she gaped, finding out she'd not only been thrown through one but **two** walls. "How the-"

A loud gasp that sounded like it came from the office they had been in stopped Charlie from going into a confused rant to herself. "Charlie? Where are you?!" the voice sounded strained, but it was Sam's, without a doubt.

The redhead heard him move around, along with things falling over and clattering loudly unto the stone floor. In an instant, she made her way towards the "entrance", poking her head out to see most of her friends lying on the ground, still knocked out cold by the blast. Where was Sam? Before she could call out his name again, a hand landed on her shoulder. Barely managing to suppress a squeal, Charlie gasped and whirled around to see her missing friend. "Sam!"

He didn't hesitate to pull her into his arms. "Thank god. I woke up in the corner and I couldn't see you and I thought something happened. I thought you-" he trailed off, noticing the giant hole, or well, holes that Charlie had walked out from. "Please tell me that those are not there because of you, Lotta."

Charlie held on tighter for a moment at the nickname, clutching the boy's shirt in a stone grip before willing herself to let go. "That'd be a lie then." the girl smiled sheepishly at Sam's wide eyes. "But hey, those walls seem pretty rundown to me, so if that makes you feel better?"

"It really doesn't, but thanks for trying anyway. I feel dumb for asking, but are you alright?"

"Oh my god, Charlie!" Desdemona's voice made the two look away from each other and right at the raven-haired girl. Other than being under dozens of papers and a bit of dirt and grime, she seemed fine. "The mirror - it just- I swear I didn't mean to!" she scrambled to her feet, almost falling back onto her butt on the first try.

Charlie took hold of her friend's arms, stabilizing her, ignoring her own legs which were still a bit shaky. "Des, hey. Look at me. It's okay, it was not your fault, alright? No one could've known that would happen."

"What the fuck?!" Nathan wheezed out, pulling himself up from behind the large, wooden desk, rubbing his side. "That is most definitely a bruised rib. Shit. What was that? All I remember is getting blasted away by that explosion and landing on the damn table."

"Nate, please- Be quiet for a moment." Amos popped up from behind a shelf that must've fallen over. "Ugh, my head," he ground out, climbing to his feet, one hand clutching his head. A cut ran across his forehead, tiny drops of blood running down the side of his face.

Desdemona instantly hurried over to her brother, for now forgetting about the argument that had taken place to make sure he was alright.

In the meantime, Charlie's eyes wandered about the room, taking in the destruction. Shelves had fallen over, everything that had been made of glass and porcelain was shattered, papers that had been stacked away carefully littered the floor. Some of the floor and furniture was scorched. This could've ended significantly worse.

Charlie stepped over the remains of a chair, closer to where the mirror had crashed onto the marble floor. She crouched down carefully picking up a piece of it. For some reason, it was only split into five pieces. The handle, and four parts of the mirror. Making sure no one was watching her at the moment, she ripped off a piece of her already ruined jeans and wrapped the fabric around the shards, tucking it into her jacket.

"I want to go home." Des' voice was uncharacteristically soft, meek even.

Her brother's eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around her small form protectively. "As much as I'd love to know what the hell just happened, I doubt we'll find an explanation, especially right now." They were all shaken, tired and hurt.

"So, we just go home?"

"For now." Charlie bowed her head, trying to steady herself. She quickly hugged Desdemona, squeezed Sam's hand with her own and nodded at Nathan and Amos. "See you on Monday?" she didn't wait for an answer, quickly making her way out of the room and out of the church, not thinking once about getting through the barrier. She ran through it, wanting to get away as fast as possible.

She could hear Sam calling her name, trying to run after her.

Still, she ran, simply increasing her pace. In fact, she didn't stop until she was at the metro station, letting herself drop into a seat. The subway car was empty and Charlie welcomed it. After catching her breath for a minute, she took out her phone, glad to see it was completely intact. Only then she noticed the time. The sun would rise in an hour or two. Exactly how long had they been unconscious?

Charlie felt the exhaustion and pain catch up with her. She knew taking off like that wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't help it, couldn't control it. That explosion had been too familiar. The looks, the sounds, the feeling. Every aspect of it.

The redhead didn't know how, where or when, but she'd seen that before. The more she tried to place it somewhere, connect it to a memory, the stronger became the feeling of someone choking her. So instead, she focused on her phone, the landscape or her shredded, ruined clothes. Anything but those images back in her mind.

Twenty minutes later, she stood in front of the manor's main entrance, praying to all the gods and entities that no one would notice her, see her sneaking in at five something a.m..

For once, luck was on her side. The house was still dark, not a single person awake. Well, awake maybe, but surely busy with "work".

Charlie snorted quietly to herself once she'd reached the sanctuary that was her room after walking down the long hallway. The closest room to hers that was occupied was Tim's. Bruce and Alfred knew better than have Damian sleep in close proximity to her. Plus she liked Tim the most.

He was the only one who tried to have some sort of family relationship with her, other than Alfred. Dick did too, at least sometimes, when he felt like playing the protective big brother. Charlie wondered if there was an actual person who didn't like Alfred. It was hard to imagine. But alas, most times he was too busy as well.

The Blum girl knew the reasons, she understood why, but that didn't make it suck any less. What also sucked was the fact that they thought she was oblivious to the point of not noticing any of their nightly activities. Long before she'd been adopted into the family, she'd found the Waynes very peculiar. However, she knew better than to mention it. At the moment things were too tense anyways. For now, she'd pretend to be as unaware as they thought her to be.

With a deep sigh, Charlie pushed herself away from the door, moving over to her big, cozy bed. Part of her wanted to take a hot, steaming shower, clean herself up and change, but at this point, she was already way too exhausted.

She barely managed to slip out of her jacket and kick off her shoes, before she faceplanted into her bed, hiding under the covers and falling into a deep slumber in the matter of a few seconds.

**↞ ↠**

There were no words to express how grateful Charlie was that it was Saturday after she woke up from her restless sleep, covered in sweat and gasping like she'd been running a marathon. Nightmare after nightmare had plagued her tonight like they hadn't in months and she knew it wouldn't make sense to try and sleep more.

Her whole body hurt, her head being the worst. It felt as if someone had grabbed her limbs and tried to pull her in every direction imaginable, paired with the splitting headache of the year and a kick to each part of her body for good measure. "Shit!" she swore, sitting up, immediately slumping forward to clutch her head. Everything was spinning.

Trying to calm herself, she took a few deep breaths which luckily helped lessen the dizziness and nausea. The walk to the bathroom felt ten times as long, with Charlie stumbling over nothing on the way multiple times.

Charlie bit her lip to suppress a loud whine when she hit her shoulder on a shelf in the bathroom. "Ow." the sound she made ended up sounding very confused, just like she was. Since when was she tall enough to reach it with her shoulder? She stared at the offending object, gaping as it was suddenly on a way lower level than usual. "Who the heck rearranged my shelf?"

It took her an embarrassingly long moment to see that in fact, no one had done anything of the sort. Hurrying over to the mirror, her fears became true. "Did I suddenly hit a growth spurt? What the..." she trailed off, eyeing her reflection, shuddering as she noted how thin she looked. More like downright unhealthy, even sickly. She had lost a bit of weight in the past months, but not **this** much. There was no way.

The sudden change in height was of course responsible. Figures that such an abrupt difference would have a big downside.

Half an hour later, Charlie had managed to take that nice warm shower, get dressed and bump her head and shoulders into absolutely anything at least eighteen times. "As if I don't have plenty bruises already. Nope, you gotta make me look like shit even more." At this point, Charlie didn't know who she was complaining to at this point. She made sure most of her bruises and cuts were covered by her oversized hoodie and sweatpants and those on her face and hands were hidden under band-aids and a bit of concealer. Actually, a lot of the latter.

The oversized clothing also helped hide her more than unusual physique at the moment. People always made a point to comment on her petite figure already and she absolutely didn't feel like getting more of those. It wasn't as if she did it deliberately.

As if to remind her, her stomach growled loudly. She was surprisingly hungry, in fact.

Making sure once more that she at least looked kind of representable, not like a zombie, she left her room, her socked feet making next to no sound on the carpeted floor. It was quiet, not unlike every other day. She knew that Tim was still sleeping, getting some actual rest for once. A rarity.

Damian was most likely in the cave, probably with Bruce.

Quiet clattering came from the kitchen, which meant Alfred was washing dishes at the moment. A quick glance at the clock in the downstairs hallway told her it was 1.42.

Charlie was a bit surprised, seeing as she'd slept for about six hours, if at all.

The Blum girl took a moment to ready steel herself, trying to filter out the sudden tension in her body before walking into the kitchen, feeling more than a bit sheepish. "Good morning, Alfred." she quickly sat down at the kitchen bar, not wanting to draw more attention towards her person because of the sudden height difference. 

"Good morning, Mistress Charlotte. Or I suppose "good day" is more appropriate?" 

Alfred had never been easy to read, but Charlie was getting better at it. He didn't seem mad, which she took as a good sign, though she immediately noticed him eyeing the cuts on her face, along with the bruise that sat on her cheekbone. Most of it was covered by concealer, but she needed to get a new one that would cover bruises better. 

Charlie's face still twisted as she tried to hide a wince at the butler's words and also at the way he addressed her. Mistress Charlotte made her sound like a spoiled rich kid. It was weird, but she let it go this time since she knew Alfred didn't mean any harm by it and really, she didn't want more attention on her at the moment. 

"Yeah, sorry...I ended up running into some trouble on the way home from a little party at a friend's place." _Good job, Charlotte. You made it sound like someone beat the shit out of you in a back alley_ , she mentally facepalmed, trying not to show any sign of lying. "Don't worry, I cleaned everything thoroughly, everything is super-duper again." _By the gods, just shut up. What happened to being a good liar??_

Alfred didn't look too convinced, but thankfully decided to not investigate anymore other than asking her, "I presume you would not like to elaborate and go into further detail?"

Charlie sent the elder man a smile. "Not really. I didn't get into real trouble, I promise. If anything, it was more of an accident. Partially my own fault." 

Alfred eyed her for another moment, deeming what she had said as satisfying for now and nodding his head. "Would you care for some snacks, Miss Charlotte?" 

The emphasis on the 'Miss' made her smile widen. Of course, he'd noticed her wince before. Miss was definitely better than Mistress. "That would be great. I'm starving, actually. Can I help?"

Charlie spent the next hour helping Alfred preparing sandwiches and then devouring half of them by herself. She had been **remarkably** hungry. "Man, these were delicious. I'll take some of these and leave them in Tim's room, okay?"

"That's very thoughtful of you. I'm sure Master Timothy will appreciate it." 

Both of them didn't mention how Tim was always buried in work, always sitting on his computer and barely getting any sleep. There wasn't a sufficient amount of time for eating either. Most of the times, he ate alone in his room, not moving away from whatever he was working on, either college work or a case. 

Not that Charlie mentioned knowing about the cases to Alfred or any other member of the family. 

"Miss Charlotte?" Alfred called out, a second after Charlie had left the room. "Master Grayson is coming over for dinner later, along with Miss Gordon. Would you like to join us?"

Charlotte paused in the doorway, basically screaming in her head. "Yes, I'd love to. Usual dinner time?" getting an affirmative, she hurried back upstairs and back into her room after sneaking into Tim's to leave the food there. She really needed to consider her life choices for a bit and then panic over what to wear and how to act and if she shouldn't jump out the window and blast the heck out of the city. "You already agreed, idiot. Deal with your mess," she told herself, faceplanting on her bed, instantly regretting the move as it made her whole body ache.

It seemed like she still had that habit of subconsciously ruining her own life and making it unnecessarily hard. 

_Yay_. 

**↞ ↠**

Charlie was well working herself towards a little panic attack when her laptop screen lit up from its standby mode, the Skype icon popping up. Des' profile picture stared right back at her. 

Immediately, the red-head hurried over to her desk, stumbling over her blanket, barely managing to swerve around the corner of the desk, still banging her pinky toe against the foot of it. For a second, she wheezed, before moving on and answering the call just in time. "Des!"

"Charlie!" the ravenette yelled at the same time. "Holy fuck. Sorry, but you look like shit."

Charlie gave her friend a blank stare, flipping her off. "That's funny coming from someone who looks like they're off their rocker. But thanks, babe. Exactly what I need right now. A truly supportive friend. Feeling all the love."

"Charlie, calm down. You're ranting. That's never a good sign. What's wrong? Is it because of what happened yesterday?"

"Yes. No. I mean, partially. That was so messed up. Something feels off. A lot feels off. Like my sudden, out of nowhere growth spurt."

"You too?!" Des got up from her chair to show it off in the camera.

"Nope, you still look tiny."

"Kiss my ass."

Charlie sent Des a big, sickly sweet smile, dropping the expression as quickly as it appeared. "Speaking of ass-kissing, I think I gotta do that in a bit." 

Desdemona raised an elegant eyebrow. "Why? With who? Also, what **are** we panicking over?"

"Well..."

**↞ ↠**

"I can't believe I did your makeup in a damn forest." Des sighed exasperatedly, placing the concealer back in her satchel and slinging over her slender shoulder.

"You know I'm not allowed to bring anyone over because no one is supposed to know about me living with them."

"Right, imagine the news. Bruce Wayne, too big of a coward or asshole to adopt a sweet girl like you."

Charlie grinned at her best friend, taking a look in the compact mirror that was handed to her, glad to see most of her bruises covered. "One might think you're more salty about my family than I am. It's not like I have any hope left for that actually happening."

"Nah, you're just good at compartmentalizing and repressing. You're salty enough to make our shitty school lunch fries taste like something."

"No more of those in a few months. And no one forces you to stuff your face with them, you know." Charlie pointed out before humming in thought. "But yeah, with an adopted family like mine I probably seem outgoing in comparison. They're all emotionally constipated, Dick too. And he seems like a freaking ball of sunshine riding on a unicorn that farts rainbows."

"He could be a gay icon. Or a bicon, if he wasn't so tragically straight." Des clutched her chest, faking an expression that screamed suffering. "But alas, he's a fuckboy too, isn't he?"

Des' blunt question made Charlie choke on nothing. "Well, from what I've seen and heard, yes. But he's such a sweetheart at the same time?"

"As much as I'd love to continue discussing your family's sexualities and stuff, your dinner thingy will start soon, so you should go back and get dressed."

"Shoot, you're right." Charlie got up from her seat, which in reality was just a fallen tree. She felt the need to thank it for enduring her bullshit and her bony ass. She was gonna have to work on gaining the weight she lost back. "How can I thank you for this? I mean who goes to their friend's place to be told that have to do their makeup in the freaking forest behind their house?"

"Mansion." Desdemona corrected teasingly, walking out of the clearing and back towards the road. "Thank me by wearing something that slays and then slay them with your awesome."

Both paused, looking at each other before laughing.

"Okay, all jokes aside," Desdemona's cheeks were flushed from all the giggling, as were Charlie's. "You **are** a great person. Don't let anyone treat you as if you're not."

"Thanks, Dezzie." the redhead jogged over and hugged her smaller friend close, before making her way back to the mansion. 

"You got even taller, you assbutt!"

"Love you too, shortstack!"

"You can still kiss my ass, Giant Jack!"

Charlie grinned all the way back to her room, almost skipping. A quick look in the mirror told her she looked alive now and more confident, all thanks to Des. No matter how often they roasted each other, when it came down to it, they had each other's backs. 

Ten minutes later, she was dressed in a nice pair of black jeans, an oversized, green sweater that was so comfy she wanted to roll herself up in it. Catering to her near-obsession with color schemes, she slipped into a pair of emerald sneakers. For good measure, she put on a choker, necklace and simple black stud earrings. 

Before she left her room, she tied her red hair back into a simple yet pretty high ponytail, letting a few strands frame her face.

Walking down the long hallways that led her towards the grand main staircase still felt weird, and in a way, foreign, as it did a year ago. Almost two years by now. She had merely turned sixteen when her old home had been taken from her, although she had stopped thinking of it as such a long time before that.

Charlie knew "home" was a temporary thing. Like this one would be. Most likely after she finished college. She often pondered who or what would be the cause, the reason that would make her leave. Right now, she herself seemed like a viable answer. 

The closest thing to home nowadays were her friends. Admittedly, she spent most of her time with them these days, for a good reason. Why bother staying in a place where you're not wanted or needed? That thought still hurt her way more than she liked to admit, but she knew better than to put the blame on them entirely. This thing simply wasn't meant to work out. 

Home felt like late nights at Des' place, playing video games with Sam, recording videos for their channels, pranking Amos with Nathan only for Charlie to stab the blond boy in the back or vice versa.

Home was the serenity and peace she felt when Des sang, the sense of warmth and security when Sam cuddled her, the pride and admiration when she watched Amos practice his archery, the awe and surprise every time she got a taste of Nathan's heavenly food. 

She adored each and every single one of them. Charlie never expected to have friends that were of the "ride or die" variety, but the shit they'd already done together proved they were. Their action from yesterday night alone was proof.

With them, it was easier to be herself and express her feelings. And that mattered so, so much to Charlie.

Things with the Wayne family were different. Sometimes, they didn't even seem like an actual family. _Scratch that and make it most of the time._

Dick lived in Blüdhaven but visited a lot. Other times he didn't visit for weeks at a time. Charlie knew that must be the "important work" aka missions abroad or undercover bullshit. 

She also knew there'd been another boy. Jason Todd. She always walked by his grave while she visited her adopted mother's grave. It hadn't been hard to connect the dots. He had been the second Robin. The boy that died so young. She didn't precisely know how it happened, perhaps a little more than the version the media and public got. Which was nothing but a pile of lies. There was a big, framed picture of him in one of the further wings of the manor. And his room. Sometimes she brought flowers for him too.

Then there was Tim. He was a sweetheart, but at the same time also not? There was something about him. An aura surrounding him that told her there was a genius, a mastermind waiting underneath all those layers of masks he wore. A genius analyzing anything and everything, scouting for strengths and weaknesses, reading in between the lines of mimics and gestures. 

Charlie noticed how he was running himself into the ground, doing this and that, left and right, selflessly giving up precious hours of sleep that he spent doped up on coffee, fighting crime and missing meal hours. 

She probably worried about him the most.

And then, there was Damian. That boy was a whole other story.

With him, there were two ways of interaction. More like one, since the first option was the complete and utter ignorance and disregard of her presence. Charlie actually preferred that. Option number two was insults, snarls, glares, more insults and more things that made her want to hole up in her room to avoid him. 

She had quickly learned he had the upper hand during those situations. She did try to defend herself in the beginning but had quickly learned that it wasn't worth it. Most times it happened when they were alone, something she tried to evade at all costs nowadays. Around other people, well...

Tim was always quick to defend her, something that she appreciated but also made her feel uncomfortable and weak at times. She didn't have anyone taking care of her like that in years up to that point, so it was hard to get used to it.

Alfred was always the one to scold the boy, sending him a disapproving look that Charlie like to call 'The Eyebrows of Disappointment'. Maybe she should trademark that one. Not even Damian was immune to that look. Alfred had the ability to make people feel bad and squirm until they thought about their actions and apologized. He could probably make a supervillain feel bad with it.

Dick always tried to play the peacemaker. Both Damian and Charlie weren't a fan of that. Charlie **wanted** peace, didn't want to feel like she'd get a knife thrown at her back for a single harmless comment, but she knew the chance of that ever happening was basically nonexistent. She doubted Damian ever wanted a truce, a semblance of a normal relationship with her. 

It wasn't as if Charlie wanted to have that sibling bond Damian shared with Dick, for herself and him, too. She didn't want to pick him up from school and get ice cream to talk about how school was going and if there was someone he liked. She didn't want to start prank wars with him. She didn't want movie nights with him to expand his scarce knowledge of pop-culture. She didn't want to do any of that good, perfect big sis crap. 

_You already had your shot at being a big sister before and look at how that turned out._

Bruce. Bruce always made her feel vulnerable. Around him, anything she did felt like a mistake. As if there wasn't the option of not being a failure. She felt small, like she was ten again, completely helpless at bad words and slurs thrown at her face, along with the occasional slap. She despised it. 

Charlie disagreed with a lot of the things Bruce said and did. He definitely had his faults, but there was nothing she could do against the perfect facade he had built up over the years. And she definitely didn't expect to be chosen over his son. Not ever.

She was and probably would forever be grateful for the facade **he** had given **her**. She got an incredibly nice roof over her head, all her needs were satisfied, anything she asked for she got without so much of a raised eyebrow or a question. She also got the illusion of a family. Really, she didn't have serious room to complain, especially with a family like her former one.

No one genuinely bothered her here, at least not to the point where she escaped into Gotham's streets, even favored spending the night in a dark, cold alley than going back home. She was given the chance to get into a better school, pick up her bad grades and turn them into something greater, using her full potential. She had made new friends there that she adored. 

Thanks to Bruce, she made a big step in the right direction.

And if she had to deal with not belonging, feeling out of place, and being harassed by a pint-sized, thirteen-year-old demon spawn in her so-called home as a price, so be it.

She kept repeating that to herself, almost like a mantra. All she had to was get through this. One day after another. Baby steps.

"Charlie!" the familiar voice ripped said girl out of her reverie.

"Huh?" without realizing it, she had already arrived at the bottom of the stairs. _Stop daydreaming, idiot!_ She already wanted to crawl back up the stairs and hit her head against a wall at her own idiocy. Charlie already felt so out of place again, but she refused to let this get to awkward. "Hey, Dick." she grinned at the man-child who was smiling brightly, trying to suppress a blush. "You're late."

"He is indeed, Miss Charlotte. Master Richard?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, got held back a bit during uh, work." he and Alfred shared a glance that told her perfectly what kind of work stopped him from arriving on time. "Anyways," he started, slipping out of his jacket and handing it to Alfred with a smile of gratitude. "Babs can't make it tonight, she's really busy, but she promised she'll join us the next time."

Alfred left the room, presumably to take care of Dick's jacket and then tend to the food in the kitchen. "Would it be alright if we dined in the kitchen today? It is only us three today and the sunset looks promising." 

_For Gotham, yes._ Charlie added mentally, nodding her head. "Sure." she walked over to Dick, knowing what was coming. No one ever managed to escape Dick's famous hugs. She liked them, most of the time. Sometimes they made her want to claw his eyes out, but today wasn't one of those days. "Oof." she winced when he managed to skim her bruises sides, trying not to make a noise that would indicate the pain she felt.

He abruptly moved, holding her at arm's length by the shoulders. "What the-?"

Charlie felt disoriented for a moment, not taking long to figure out what he was so freaked out about. "I had a growth spurt?" 

The words spilled out of her mouth before she could catch them. She considered screaming on the inside but pushed that away for later on.

"My baby sister!" he wailed, shaking her shoulders dramatically. "You used to be so small! What happened?!" he used one of his hands to compare their height, making a sound that resembled a dying animal when the difference was, obviously a lot smaller than before. 

Charlie rolled her eyes, ignoring the way her stomach did flips at him calling her his baby sister. "First of all, I'm almost eighteen. I just hit my last growth spurt or something and I was never small!"

"5'5 was small! Extremely small compared!"

"Dick, you're 5'10, stop being dramatic."

"B-But-"

"Dinner is ready to be served, Master Richard."

"You're taller than Tim now!"

Charlie ignored that last cry, hurrying over to the table that rested in the nook of the kitchen, in front of the big window that gave you a nice view of the gardens. 

"Shit, I'm taller than Tim," she mumbled to herself, barely stopping her hands from tugging at her hair. _What joy it'll be to see his reaction_ , she thought sarcastically, sitting down on the chair in the right corner. 

Though it would certainly have its benefits to be even taller than Damian now. _Heck yes!_

"Charlie, don't ignore your big brother and tell me how this happened!"

The redhead groaned, sending a pleading look at Alfred who simply smiled back. 

_Top Ten Anime Betrayals_ ,was all she could think while she was cornered by the mother hen of a brother that was Dick Grayson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even really know what to put into these anymore.  
> I always used to rant in these but I guess those days are over as well.  
> Thanks for being here and giving this a chance. Hope I didn't waste your time.  
> Love y'all.


	5. ↞ iii. thingies ↠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this year is passing by so fast but not at all at the same time and it's driving me up a wall.  
> how have I not updated anything in ages?  
> looking back, my notes are all so depressing (･Θ･;)  
> I supposed it doesn't matter much since no one is really reading them but if you do, oh well. I'm sorry. thanks for bothering though!

_Chapter Three_

**_| Thingies |_ **

_⛧_ **_⋆⋆⋆_ ** _⛧_

**The** dinner went by without any incidents. Other than Dick knocking over a glass of soda and ruining Charlie's sweater, everything was fine. Fun even. They mostly talked about what Dick did. Charlie didn't know what to say about her life. None of them ever really asked about what she did in her free time, what her hobbies were or anything, really.

They probably remembered she danced, but Charlie knew they had no idea how passionate she was about it, same with her fascination with bikes and cars, something she'd inherited from her mother. And she **really** didn't want them to about her Youtube thing. Friends weren't allowed to come over so why talk about someone the family would never meet?

All that she really talked about to them was school or...nothing. But she enjoyed listening more anyway.

That night, she went to bed extra early, happier than most days, despite the accident from yesterday, despite the fact that she'd been messed up by some magical mumbo jumbo and her body was aching all over.

"Charlie..."

The eerie whisper cut through the silence that inhabited Charlie's dark room and pulled her from a restless sleep. She was wide awake, none of the usual sleepiness after awakening present, as if she'd never slept, to begin with.

Scanning her room for a source of that uncanny whisper, she moved to flick her bedside lamp on, only to have the bulb explode. "Crap!" the redhead swore, wincing when a few shards of glass embedded themselves in her hand.

"Charlotte!" this time the voice wasn't a whisper, not quiet and it certainly didn't sound nice. It was coming from behind her door, from the hallways, beckoning her to come out. She did the typical thing a white person would do in a horror movie and left her room.

Charlie grasped her butterfly knife tightly, flicking it once, twice to reveal the short blade. The hallway was dark and silent, everyone already asleep or out. How late was it? She checked the entire hallway and ended up finding nothing.

"Psst!" a hand landed on her shoulder and Charlie felt her heart stop as she screamed in shock, only to whirl around and see nothing behind her. The only thing that told her she hadn't imagined it was the cackling that followed. Charlie's sweaty palms almost caused her to loosen the grip on her knife.

She wished she had her phone to at least use the flashlight but she'd been unable to locate it. "Who the hell-?"

There were no more sounds, no more voices, nothing but a cold, dead silence that took hold of her. She eyed the door which led to Tim's room, noting how there was none of the usual buzzing and humming sounds from his computers, no artificial blue LED lights and no signs of any life in general.

"Tim?" she called out, her voice shaky. She knocked and just as she expected, there was no answer. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, letting it bang against the wall when she took in the state the room was in.

Tim's room was completely empty, devoid of any signs that a person lived there. The furniture was still in place, but all personal items, like the clothes that were always thrown over that one chair in the corner, the framed pictures, the computers, and other technological stuff, were just...gone.

Even the drawers that were always stuffed with folders and papers were cleaned. There was nothing scary or creepy in the room, nothing grotesque like the murder scene Charlie was already somehow expecting, yet a shiver crawled up her spine. Somehow this emptiness was worse.

Her heart, which had already been beating way faster than what was normal was now racing, joining her sweaty palms and shaking form as signs that something was wrong. **Horribly wrong**.

"Tim?" her voice was barely more than a murmur as she backed up, yelping when the door behind her flung close. "Guys?!" Charlie used her fists and then her whole body to try to push the door back open. "If this is a prank, it stopped being funny like, since the beginning."

No answer.

Charlie tensed when she felt another presence in the room. "There's someone behind me, right?" She'd been talking to herself, but still got an answer.

"Yes."

The redhead spun around, not even catching more than a glimpse of the dark figure before it moved faster than she could register. Charlie screamed, eyes closing on instinct as she raised her arms for at least some sort of cover. She felt something hit her, what and how she couldn't describe and then all she heard as she fell to the floor was loud cawing, almost like a murder of crows.

**↞ ↠**

Charlie bolted up from her position in bed, a loud gasp escaping her lips as she twisted and turned, desperately trying to get rid of the blankets that were currently suffocating her. Ending up on the carpeted floor was not part of the plan and neither was starting to cry.

Her panicked breaths were the only sound, barely broken by the rain pelting against the windows. It took her a while, taking her time to move back into the bed. "Steps, Charlie. Steps."

Five things she could see. That certain spot on the ceiling right above her bed, her fluffy, red blanket, her body pillow, the book she had been reading and one of the dozens of plushies she had.

Then four things she could touch. Her notepad that was on the floor along with the pen, the soft, carpeted floor and for good measure, her own hair.

Next came the sounds. Charlie focused on what she could hear. The loud rain against the window, the clap of thunder in the distance and the faint sound of the bustling, nearby city.

After that, Charlie reached for her blanket, burrowing her face in the soft fabric, enjoying the scent of her favorite laundry detergent and wrapped the scarf Des had given her last week around her neck, the designer piece smelling like Des' trademark perfume.

The last step was one thing you can taste. Luckily, Charlie still had her pack of gums on her bedside desk. As she chewed, she felt significantly calmer.

This technique had helped her throughout the years she spent with her adoptive family. Surprisingly, her adopted mother had taught her. Or not so surprisingly, with a husband like Sean.

She pushed those thoughts and memories away because she already felt shitty enough as it was. Charlie finally got up from the floor and grabbed her phone to look at the time. Barely four in the morning.

"It was just a dream. You're okay. You're fine." she repeated that over and over until her jumbled mind caught up to the fact. "Fuck me."

Deciding that sleep was off-limits after that nightmare, she slipped out of her shirt and into a cuddly, big sweater and fuzzy socks, making her way downstairs and into the main kitchen.

"Time for nightmare waffles."

She spent the next half an hour piling waffle after waffle onto a plate and made some hot chocolate for good measure. Most of the waffles went onto the tray along with two cups of the hot chocolate, though she still left some of each in the kitchen in case someone was hungry.

Upstairs, she breathed a sigh of relief when the light under Tim's door was present, along with quiet tapping of the keyboard, meaning he was already or still up and working on something. Hesitating for a moment, she knocked on the door, hearing a 'come in' a few seconds later.

"Hey." Charlie greeted softly, placing the tray on Tim's bedside table, grabbing one of the plates and a cup for herself. "Thought you might want something to eat."

She resisted the urge to rush over to him and touch him to make sure he was real. That would probably just be incredibly awkward for both of them.

"Oh." he stared at her, looking a bit shocked and confused before shaking his head as if to shake off whatever he was thinking about. "Yeah. I'm actually really hungry. Thanks." he smiled and got up, stretching. The resounding cracks made even Charlie wince. "Any reason you're making waffles at four am?"

Charlie shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "Eh. Couldn't sleep, so why waste time rolling around in bed uselessly when I might as well just make delicious waffles. And hot choco."

Tim plopped down on his bed, gesturing for her to do the same while grabbed the tray and taking a sip of the hot chocolate. "Wow, this is great." he grabbed the remote that was on the other bedside table and turned the TV on, flipping through some channels before giving up and handing it to Charlie, letting her choose so he could focus on the still-warm waffles waiting to be devoured. "These are so good." he almost moaned.

Charlie snorted, digging in herself while looking for something bearable on the telly. "Thanks. Both are old family recipes. Well, relatively old. Secret ingredient: lots of love and some tears."

"Tears?" Tim lifted an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Story for another time. It's not actual tears, so don't worry." she teased, leaning back against the headboard. She couldn't recall when they'd done this the last time. Her eyes nearly twinkled with delight when she saw what was on TV. "Rather worry about Annabelle."

Tim's eyes flickered to the screen and the look on his face morphed into one of disdain. "Charlieeee" he whined, head hanging low. "You know I can't stand dolls."

"Neither can I, you know. But you haven't seen it yet. Let's suffer together. Nightmare movie, nightmare waffles and nightmare hot choco, it's just perfect. And ghost hour is over either way. Please?" she used her puppy dog eyes, which almost always worked with Tim and her friends. She never bothered using it on Bruce or Damian. Alfred was too invulnerable when it came to those unless she really meant it or did it unintentionally. She'd used then on Dick, once or twice, but that was it. Des was way better at the trick anyway.

"Ugh. Fine. Turn the lights off. If I get scared to death we might as well do it right."

Charlie complied and cuddled further into the blankets. Nothing could really scare her after that nightmare of a... Whatever it was. It had felt too real to be a dream. Bad dreams were nothing foreign to her but that experience had been too close, too much, to be just that.

**↞ ↠**

Charlie shuffled over to the crumbling building, turning her head, subtly checking that there was really no one behind her. She really didn't want anyone knowing that this old, abandoned church they held their little meetings in wasn't actually that abandoned and surrounded by a freaking magical barrier that seemed to like only them.

They discovered that fact when they watched some scruffy criminals try to access the grounds. The barrier had flashed a dangerous, dark purple and a blast sending two men flying back a good few meters. What was more confusing is that they didn't appear to remember what had happened, asking each other why they had been there before taking off, seeming shaken.

And now the clique was obviously doing the dumbass thing: Using it as their meeting spot, or as Sam called it, hideout. Des had a new name every five minutes, always switching in between. One day it was 'den', then it was 'lair', followed by 'hole' and her personal favorite 'nest'.

Getting through the barrier was relatively easy by now. None of that falling flat onto their faces anymore. As long as they all stayed clear of each other, that is.

Charlie slipped through the grand wooden doors, closing them as quietly as possible, unlike Des who always let it slam close with a loud bang that made everyone jump out of their skin. Which annoyed the heck out of Amos which always lead to fights which in turn stressed everyone out.

"Fuck Batman!"

That was literally what greeted the redhead when she walked into the training room. She cleared her throat, lifting an eyebrow at Nathan who was gesturing around wildly with a dagger. "Um, not that I don't support that statement, really, totally acceptable sentiment, every Gotham citizen probably feels it," she spoke up, placing her bag on a table and walking over to get her welcoming hug from Sam. "Can I know why you're stabbing at our beloved and very much nonpresent caped crusader with an ancient and most likely _magical_ dagger?"

Amos and Des decided that it was a good moment to walk in, just before Nathan could open his mouth to explain. "Well, Charlotte, our dear Nathan thought it was a good idea to join the club of costumed crimefighters and came home all bruised up, body **and** ego. Not that his ego is any smaller because of it."

"What?!" both Charlie and Sam's outcries rang through the room, echoing off the walls almost as if to add a dramatic effect to the declaration.

"Yup. I caught him sneaking back in last night." Desdemona revealed, leaning back against the desk behind her. "All suited up. Weapons and everything."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Too dangerous, too young, too reckless, too much of an idiot and I'm utterly irresponsible and you can't believe I'd do this. Say whatever you the hell you want, but you're not gonna make me stop."

"Nate-" Amos started, leaning over to grab the blonde's shoulder.

"No!" Nathan ripped his shoulder away, stepping out of reach and creating some space between himself and the others. "You gave me the full speech yesterday. Disappointment here, blame there. If I want that I'll go back to my egg and sperm donor and get the full package, failure and letdown stamps included!" his breathing was heavier from how fast he spoke, bordering on yelling, trying to calm himself. "I- what are we doing here? Tell me. We're here because something happened last week. Something messed up. Every single one of us feels weird like there's something wrong, different. So let's just stop skirting around the topic and admit something is wrong. **Right?** " he stressed the last word, looking at each of them.

The silence was thick with tension, almost tangible. Luckily, Sam broke it after hesitating to speak up.

"I set my curtains on fire yesterday."

Nathan gave him a weird look. "Uh, thanks for the input, Samuel. Very helpful."

Charlie only blinked, shifting uncomfortably, not liking where this was going. She ignored Nathan however, turning to her best friend. "Did you get hurt?" she asked, worry coating her words as she touched his arm.

"Sam, did you try to build another flamethrower with a YouTube tutorial in your room?" Des' voice was teasing as she smirked at the brunette boy.

"What? No! I-" he cut himself off, rolling up his sleeve. "Listen, my mum and sister had a fight about my dad and I could hear them from my room. I got super pissed, angry and you know, just sad. I was busy glaring out the window, wanting it to light up and boom! The curtain lit up like a Christmas tree. And before you try to make some shit up about how, watch this and tell me I'm making it up." he snapped his fingers once, twice before a flame came to life, hovering atop his fingers.

"What the fuck?!" This time it was the for others freaking out.

They leaned closer, watching in fascination as Sam rolled it over and around his hand, forming a little ball of bright orange fire before he made it disappear with another snap.

"How are you doing that and how are you already so good at this?" Amos asked, directing his attention back to Sam's face.

The brunette boy only shrugged helplessly. "I just do it. It's almost...natural. Normal. Feels like waggling my ears." his ears moved to showcase what he was saying.

"Yes. The absolutely normal act of creating fire out of nowhere and handling it like a pro." Des snorted.

"You also got a shtick like that, Nathan?"

"No. I was just running around the streets, beating them thugs with my basic kung-fu training that I received like ten years ago and a lot of enthusiasm, I'm that good," he replied, oozing sarcasm. "Obviously. I just don't know how to word it. I found out when I got jumped on the way home a few days after the incident. Knew where to strike, when to duck and when to dodge. Complete intuition. But I guess you could explain that, somehow. Adrenaline or whatever."

"I can actually sense the but. Go on, Nate." Amos went from looking annoyed to worried now. Mother hen at his finest.

"Every time I pick stuff up, anything really, could be a pencil, backpack, glass. I instantly know how to incapacitate someone with it, kill even. It's bizarre as shit, but I thought, why not use that sudden aptitude for something useful?"

"Aptitude. Big word there, coz."

The blond flipped his cousin off with a charming smile.

"So, basically you are like a Spartan," Charlie concluded, trying not to shrink back at the stares she got in response. "It's like in that book series. Where Spartans can use anything and everything to kill someone. Not ringing any bells?" No answer. "I am never getting you a book again for your birthdays or whatever celebration, Desdemona."

"Nooooo. Please, I promise I'll read it soon. Don't go all full name on me like Amos."

"Fine. Promise?"

"Promise!"

"This is really cute and all, but isn't anyone else worried about why I know that the quickest way to a person's heart is in between the fourth or fifth intercostal space, midclavicular line?"

"That's actually correct. Since when do you even know words like that? Did you actually listen to dad's med lessons?" Amos was clearly shocked at his cousin's knowledge.

"Heck no. Why would I listen to that boring shit?"

"I mean, I knew that." Charlie told them, Des piping up with a 'Same!'

"How though?"

"Memes." was all the redhead said before remembering what this all had originally about. "Not that we're done talking about the power stuff and vigilante stuff, but you never answered my question. Why 'fuck Batman'?"

"Oh, yeah. I kinda ran into him. Or him into me? I was fending off some thieves when he swooped in. I made sure to get the hell out of there because I didn't want a lecture or something worse. Ended up falling off a building and right into a group of guys who kicked my ass a bit before I managed to knock them out."

"That's something I need to see."

"I can hack into the CCTV if you wanna?" Des whispered to Charlie, a shit-eating grin making its way onto her face.

"Yes! Email it to me"

"Will do."

"What about you guys? Des? Charlie?"

The redhead shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, not knowing if the fucked up dreams she'd been having in the past days count as their kind of "weird", but since she didn't ever have dreams that vivid and all too realistic, especially in the creepy department, they probably were. "I just had some fucked up dreams. Or visions, if you wanna call them that." Charlie informed them, leaning back against one of the tables, shooting a look at Sam who looked a little too eager. "No, I didn't see the future and even if I did, there still wouldn't be a Terminator, Sam."

Well, that one was kind of a stretch. She didn't exactly have proof that it wasn't the future, but she refused to believe that. All of them were nightmarish, a feverish hell that she always fought to escape by waking up. Though last night had been a calm one. Maybe that could be attributed to the tea she drank. Tons of it, actually.

"I keep getting zapped. Does that count?" Des offered, raising a hand as if she was in school.

Everyone turned to Amos who raised his hands in defense. "Nope. Don't even give me those looks."

"Fine, be like that." Des tutted, crossing her arms. It was probably meant to make her look annoyed and angered, but with her short legs dangling off the table, looked cuter than anything.

"So, what are we gonna do with this?"

"Well, I'd say we wait for more  
"symptoms" and if there are more we'll handle it?"

"Charlie, how exactly am I supposed to handle this fire problem? And Nathan doesn't look like he's about to stop punching the heck out of criminals."

"I won't," Nathan answered easily, ignoring Amos' protests and Des' looks.

"First of all, please never say punching the 'heck' again, okay?" Charlie rubbed her forehead to stem the headache that was flooding in. "Next, if things get more obvious, shouldn't we train so we don't mess up? Get this under control? I'm sure as hell not gonna ask Batman or any of his brood for help."

"I like that idea. I mean, it'd be a shame to let all these weapons go to waste, same with the training rooms. And once Des gets into these computers we might even find training protocols and other helpful info."

"You just wanna stab things, don't you?" Amos asked his cousin dryly, shaking his head to hide his smile. "Fine by me. But we'll have to be careful. Just because I'm training doesn't mean I can fix deep stabs, burns or whatever you asshats might come up with."

"Ooohh! Amos used a bad word! That's how you know he's for real."

"Des, please."

"Yeah yeah, sorry. I'm in, by the way."

Sam shook his head in agreement. "Me too."

"Okay so does this mean I can go home now because I'm way too tired for any more human interaction or any kind of task." Charlie didn't exactly wait for an answer, hopping off her table and hugging the other four before making her way out of the room.

"Wait! I'll walk with you." Nathan had raced after her, grinning when the redhead groaned. "What, is my company too overwhelming?"

Usually, she would've had a snarky retort for that one, but her headache was getting pretty intense right now. "Actually yes, feels like my head's gonna explode."

"Seriously? Think it's connected to the shockwave thingy?" he questioned as they made their way to the subway station, hopping down three stairs at a time.

"Well, I did literally get thrown through walls, so there's that. But yeah, I think the headaches are part of the dream thingy."

"Lots of thingies, eh?" Nathan's eyebrows wiggled as he leaned against a wall, managing to extract a snort from Charlie.

"Yeah. Lots of thingies." her smile dimmed a little as she watched the dark silhouettes outside pass by at a quick pace, leaning her head back against Nathan's chest comfortably, ignoring his comment about not being a pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I doubt i'll ever get to a point where I can look back on this and be really happy but these characters just mean too much to me to give up so here we are ╭( ･ㅂ･)و


	6. ↞ iv. buckethead. ↠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not to be emo on main but man, it is so damn nice to get kudos and comments :')  
> always makes me feel like doing backflips (that wouldn't end well and would probably get me hospitalized so let's not actually)

_Chapter Four_

**_| Buckethead |_ **

_⛧_ **_⋆⋆⋆_ ** _⛧_

**Turns** out that the headaches really _were_ a part of her thingy.

Charlotte Blum had a lot of 'thingies' throughout her life, but this new one topped everything. In the short amount of time she had this supposed gift or blessing as some would call it, it managed to mess with her life in all imaginable ways. Each day it was something new, and damn it all if it wasn't getting on her last nerve.

She made sure to steer clear of Damian or Bruce or really anyone that she lived with. She really didn't feel like flipping on them and make an idiot out of herself, or worse, reveal what had happened.

So she dealt as quietly as possible with her disappearing stuff, her forgetfulness, the endless sleepless nights and nightmares, the splitting headaches and her aching body.

And well, Charlie did not even let all of that stop her from heading over to the dance studio whenever she found the time. Her body felt frailer than ever, with the weight she had lost due to the sudden growth spurt, but thanks to Alfred's delicious meals that now came in bigger portions, specifically for her and the adjusted training program, she was getting back on track fast, gaining the weight back at a fast pace.

A few days ago they had started their first "training sessions" in the Sanctuary. The name was actually an idea they all agreed on, with her proposing to have a name that was more fitting and not 'lair' or 'den'. Since they decided on it so easily and without a struggle, they celebrated it with an ice-cold coke and cookies Des had brought with her after they were finished with that night's training.

Charlie grinned at the thought as she threw today's outfit for practice into her bag, along with other stuff she needed, like her camera and other equipment. She really felt like recording something today. Either a dance cover or some of her own practice.

She made sure to grab a long-sleeved shirt to cover the normal one since Nathan had thought it was a great idea to wildly attack her with one of his batons after having grown frustrated with her frequent dodging. It wasn't really that she had been doing it to annoy him. Her reflexes had become crazy good ever since that explosion, and well, speed, flexibility, and agility had always been her thing. It was quite painful to learn that Nathan's thing was a deadly cocktail of strength, speed, and reflexes, mixed with an extra shot of power and even aggression.

Charlie had actually been knocked to the floor harshly by the blow that had hit her upper arm, gasping for air. For a moment she had even considered not moving and staying down, but that had quickly been dismissed in favor of jumping to her feet and delivering her own blow to his stomach with her staff, knocking the weapon out of his hand along with his feet from under him, placing the end of the staff on his throat after flipping it around to get a better grip.

Nathan had apologized, but the bruise was still there as evidence, so she certainly had to cover it for now.

She slipped into a hoodie and her sneakers, flinging the bag over her shoulder and making her way downstairs, moving to the main kitchen to raid the fridge for a snack. When she first moved in, it had been quite shocking to find out they had multiple kitchens in the manor. Then again there were a lot of rooms and space to be used.

"Good evening, Miss Charlotte." Alfred greeted, looking up from his book and placing his cup of tea on the table. "May I help you? Anything you'd like to eat?"

"It's Charlie, Alfred." she reminded him teasingly for what was probably the hundredth time, smiling at him and the offer. In the past days, he'd been providing her with basically anything she asked for and she still felt flustered every time. "And no, I'm just grabbing some water and a snack, I'm heading out."

"At this time? Would you like me to drop you off?"

"No, but thank you, Alfred. A friend is meeting up with me on the way and we'll go together," she assured him. "Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

Alfred looked a bit hesitant but relented either way. "I have no doubts about that."

"About what?" came a voice from the doorway and there stood Damian, scowling, as usual.

Charlie resisted rolling her eyes, also as usual. "Well, that's my cue to leave," she muttered to herself, shoving the things into her bag and hoisting it onto her shoulder. "I'm off, dunno when I'll be back." she moved around Damian and towards the front door, not wanting to start any trouble.

"Maybe it'd be better if she wasn't coming back at all." _Wow, Damian, love you too._

Charlie didn't let that comment deter her, closing the door and heading over to the garage, deciding to take her bike rather than walk after texting Grayson. A minute later, she was out on the roads, headphones in her ears and feet pedaling faster than regular. 

The sun was slowly sinking, creating a beautiful red-orange glow that blended in with the swirly pink clouds that got darker by the second. The air was fresh tonight, especially for Gotham standards and almost felt clean for once, encouraging her to take deeper breaths than usually. 

That was another big plus. Since she'd been hit by that explosion, it was easier to breathe, as weird as that sounded. There had always been a struggle with allergies for her, warnings from doctors that she might develop asthma, but now, it was as if all of that was gone. Her sight got better to the point where her reading glasses were now a permanent resident of the bedside drawer and normal, every-day glasses were only accessories. 

Charlie even had an appointment at her doctor's, which had her being nearly interrogated about her weight loss and if things were 'okay at home'. Gods, how she hated that question. Too many people had asked her that and in the end, had cared too little to actually find out. 

Before the accident, she knew she needed somewhat regular exercise to prevent her health from getting shittier, but that was no longer one of her numerous concerns. The stamina from her dancing was now just a plus, a cherry on top instead of a nagging at the back of her head. She'd been lucky enough to do something she absolutely adored all these years. 

Dancing had been her solace in more way than one. It kept her grounded, allowed her to take out her frustration and served as an outlet for overflowing emotions. Anger, sadness, fears, as well as joy and excitement, were all perfect fuel and each different emotion was portrayed differently, one slower and tranquil, the other fast and aggressive and the next one something in between that or utterly contrary.

Even though she didn't hurry, keeping her pace steady as she headed over the bridge and deeper into the city, Charlie arrived fairly early at the studio, unlocking the doors and heading inside, leaving the bike near the entrance hall behind the counter. She wasn't naive enough to think it wouldn't get stolen outside, even if this studio was in one of the okay parts of the city.

Not wasting any time, she changed and started warming up, connecting her phone to the speakers and setting up her camera on her tripod, even managing to film a solo choreo before Grayson finally showed up. 

"Grayson Dean Park, you lazy shit. I've been waiting for like half an hour!" she scoldingly waved her pointer finger at him, like the elders used to do to her when she was younger, although she couldn't help but smile at his disheveled state. 

"Sorry I didn't feel like going to jail for nearly running over an old lady?" came his answer, which really sounded more like a question. "I am way too broke to bail out and so is Benny. So I helped her home with her groceries n' shit."

"Awww, come here, my favorite broke, benevolent college student." she got up, bringing him into a hug.

"That means a lot, knowing how many broke college students live in the U.S., Charlie." he hugged her back, grinning so wide it showed off his dimples. 

"You're giving me that shit-eating grin. Either you're about to prank me or something good with Benny happened. Please tell me it's option B because remember, I have to deal with Nathan like every other day."

Grayson snorted. "I can see that hanging out with him has turned you into a paranoid bitch, no offense."

"I've always been a paranoid bitch, now stop stalling and tell meeeeee~" Charlie whined, tugging on his sleeve before Grayson pulled away, looking abashed.

"Fine. We're gonna move in together, that's all."

The redhead gaped at her friend and dancing partner. "That's all, he says. I'm so happy for you! Tell me when so I can help you with packing and moving. I know how stressy that is."

"Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate it. Now, can we move on from this mushy shit and finish the choreography so we can finally film it?"

"Fine fine." Charlie held up her hands in surrender, walking over to her phone and flipping through her playlist to look for the song and putting it on repeat after finding it. "Let's get started!"

**↞ ↠**

"How about doing it like this?"

Charlie frowned once the beat started again, sitting up from her position on the floor next to Grayson. "Actually why don't you just lie on top of me? When the third loud beat comes in? Then we do the lift and roll away from each other."

"Oh, yeah, right. Sounds like a plan."

**↞ ↠**

"..."

"Let's just never speak again of where my hand just went, okay?"

"Yeah, let's- let's do that. Never happened."

**↞ ↠**

"For frick's sake, Grayson, just put your hand under my leg, I don't wanna go flying across the room again."

"Sorry, unlike you I don't like groping people."

"..."

"Right, sorry. Never mention it again. Forgot. Won't happen again. Tell Benny and you are dead."

"Copy that."

**↞ ↠**

Charlie whirled around from her spot, stopping her movements when she heard a loud thud behind her. It wasn't dull, more like a 'splat!' sound. She instantly began laughing when she took in the sight that was Grayson who'd gracefully faceplanted. If there was such a thing. "I take it your flip didn't work so well?"

"No." came the dry answer. 

"I told Sandy not to overdo it with the polish. Sorry." she held out her hand, helping him up once he grasped it. "Let's try one more time. I'm sure this is the last take."

"I have my doubts, but sure."

Turns out, it was the last take because everything worked out perfectly this time. 

"Great job!" Charlie high-fived her partner, silently cheering as she watched the footage, feeling tired but satisfied. They'd been at it for more than two hours, but it was always worth it in the end.

"You too, Charlie." Grayson's eyes flickered over to his phone, eyes widening at the time. "It's way past nine, damn it!" the boy swore, racing around the room to change his shoes and throw a jacket on while also grabbing his stuff.

"Why in such a hurry?"

"I promised I'd pick Benny up from his band practice at nine-thirty!"

Charlie grimaced. "Oh. Well, you still have eleven minutes, so good luck and be careful!"

"Not helping!" came the snappy answer, before he was out of sight. Not even ten seconds later and Grayson was back, poking his head into the room. "Uh, you'll be fine getting home alone, right?"

Charlie had to smother her smile. "Yes, doofus. I can take care of myself, don't worry. Go get your boyfriend." It was incredibly sweet of him to ask, even if he had places to be and more important things waiting for him. "I'll clean and lock up and head home right away, fastest route."

"Smart girl." with a last smile and wave, he was out of sight again.

Charlie stood in place for a moment, taking in the silence. Usually, she liked it, but now all she felt was numbness, a hollow feeling in her chest that was trying to claw its way out. _Psst!_

The sound startled her out of her stupor and she looked around, not seeing a possible source for the noise. "Oh great, I'm going crazy, it's official." not wanting to entertain that idea any longer, she slipped into an oversized hoodie and changed into a pair of sneakers, placing her camera, tripod, and towel into her bag. As she grabbed her phone, she stilled once she noticed the figure in the corner of her eyes.

Time seemed to slow as she turned to face it, trying to anticipate any move they could make, almost waiting for them to strike. Goosebumps rose on her skin, the air growing colder to the point where her body shivered and her mouth felt dry as if she hadn't just emptied an entire bottle of water. Once fully turned, she tensed even more, if possible. "You- you are-"

"I am, I am?" the voice was unmistakably female, yet it sounded so...distorted, like it had a filter on it, in a way Charlie couldn't describe. As if it was echoing through a tin can, but louder and more scratchy. "What am I?"

The words were lodged in Charlie's throat as she felt her heart race and her palms going clammy, not taking her eyes off the figure for even a nanosecond. The question seemed impossible to answer. Because all Charlie could see was a shadow. Maybe that wasn't the right word. She could certainly see the silhouette, a rough bodily shape that seemed human, yet the skin and the hair and just everything was utterly black, like the figure had fallen into a mountain made of charcoal and melted obsidian. It didn't look ugly, but it was eerie and ominous. Looking at it felt wrong and weird.

"No answer?" the voice had a teasing ring to it this time, still sounding as distorted as their face. Each time Charlie looked, her vision blurred and she felt the urge to look away. "Ouch, that does hurt my feelings, you know? It's _she_ by the way. Plus, it's not my fault you can't see, ne?"

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "How did you-?"

"I just can. Believe me, being in there-" _she_ pointed towards Charlie's head and then to her own. "Is not fun at all. If I had a choice, I wouldn't."

"Why don't you have a choice? Who are you? Why do you keep showing up? What do you want?"

The figure sighed. "So many questions and very few answers I can give." in the blink of an eye, she stood in front of Charlie, grasping her wrists. "You have them, so find them." Finally, her eyes showed, sadly in the form of flashing bright gold in a threatening way, her form emitting **_dangerdangerdanger_** and- "Take care of the mess in front of the studio, will you?"

Charlie gasped loudly as she slumped forward, falling to her knees and taking in the air she hadn't known she was missing, her shaking hands barely keeping her upright. Her eyes frantically roamed the room for the figure, luckily finding nothing. "What the hell?!" It took a minute to gather her bearings before she recalled what the woman ( _was it really a woman?_ ) had said last. "Mess outside?"

Climbing to her feet unquestionably felt like more of a challenge than usual.

She lingered for just a second in front of the glass doors, jumping when a shot rang through the air, followed by countless more before it was silent. "If you meant a dozen dead bodies by 'mess' I'll beat your ass," Charlie swore at the thing, or entity, whatever had warned her, taking a deep breath before pushing the doors open and stepping outside.

No one was around, probably long gone after hearing the shots. Typical. She'd have to do this on her own.

Peeking around the corner and into the alley, she expected to see a massacre. This wasn't the case, however. At first, she saw nothing, until a slight movement behind a big dumpster caught her eye. She crept closer, looking around constantly and checking behind her over and over.

The sight of who was behind the dumpster made her blood freeze in her veins. "Holy shit."

His head snapped up, a pained groan escaping him. "Holy shit alright, girl."

 _Red Hood. That's Red Hood._ Bleeding out from a freaking gunshot wound behind her dance studio. "Do you- Wait, I'll-" the smallest sound to her right alerted the two of an incoming attack, in the form of a guy sprinting at them, knife in his hand.

Charlie thanked her new reflexes for how easily she dodged the first slash and the ones that followed after she stepped in front of the vigilante. There was no way he'd be able to fight back properly after losing so much blood.

Not wanting this to escalate further, she knew she needed to act fast. She was definitely more than shocked when the man, after not achieving anything but light scratches on her, actually threw his knife right at the vigilante.

She whirled around, breathing a sigh of relief when he missed his target.

The vigilante on the floor, though, wasn't as relieved. "Watch out!"

Just as she turned back, a fist was not so kindly introduced to her face, making her stumble back, her nose immediately spouting blood.

"Okay, you're dead," she growled, wiping the blood away with her hand, and blocking the next hit be was trying to land, ramming her elbow into his face with all her might. She didn't stop at that thought, sending him back with a solid kick to the chest and using the momentum to deliver another kick to his head for good measure.

The only sound was her heavy breathing as she tried to regain her composure. Her clothes were covered in blood from tiny cuts spread over her arms and her nose was burning from the punch and all she wanted to do was lay down and not get up, but then she remembered the reason she'd come out here.

"Hood?" Charlie hesitantly stepped closer and not receiving an answer, she began freaking out. "You better not be dead. That'd be so not cool." her fingers skimmed over the skin of his throat, pushing the collar of his jacket down to find his pulse. Breathing a sigh of relief when she found it, albeit weak, she started pulling him into her arms and towards the studio, grunting at the weight.

She thanked whatever was out there for the fact that no one saw her dragging a bleeding and unconscious vigilante into the dance studio because that sure would have raised tons of questions. But what else was she supposed to do? Police and ambulance were no options and Batman wasn't around either, so she had to deal with it alone.

Willing everything Amos had taught her about first aid back to her mind, she cleaned the wound, glad to see that it went straight through and wasn't still stuck inside Hood's body. While she was nowhere near an expert, it probably hadn't hit anything vital judging by where the wound was located.

Charlie had considered calling Amos but he was out of town for an archery competition and her other friends would not have been much help either. Des and Sam would've freaked and Nathan...well, he was Nathan. 

It was awkward, having to undress the guy and touch him so much when she didn't even know him, other than being aware that he was a vigilante and sometimes worked with the Bats. He was also known for using guns and lethal force, though less and less nowadays. He seemed to have mellowed out quite a bit, actually. And Charlie always thought he looked badass.

Finally done with cleaning most wounds, she fell back onto the back office's carpeted floor, next to the couch the man was resting on. Man? Boy? She didn't really know. He was tall and buff but appeared young still. With tired fingers, she found his wrist and pulse, relaxing and closing her eyes as she counted the beat that was becoming steadier by the minute. 

Hearing him groan, she sat up on her knees, for the first time taking in the ruined mask. At one point he must've been hit there or fallen onto it somehow. It exposed his forehead and parts of his face, like his left eye, sharp cheekbone, and a strong nose. _Dang, he's actually really cute..._

The redhead leaned closer, gently poking his cheek. "Hey, are you awake?" No response. "Well, that's just perfect." she huffed, pacing around the room. She had to get home. Alfred was probably already waiting for her at the manor and she did have to call the police about the dude in the alley. And there was no way she'd do anything but an anonymous call. 

So she wrote a note for the vigilante and taped it to his forehead, leaving her key next to his head. 

_**'** _ _Hey, Hood. Use the key to lock up after you leave. No one should be here for the weekend, so you should be fine. Take your time. In fact, you should really be more careful. I'm not a doc or nurse, so sorry if I did a bad job. Also, you should definitely wear a domino mask under that helmet of yours, Buckethead. You're lucky I didn't take a look to see who the badass vigilante is. By the way, it would be swell if you returned the key. I'll be here again on Monday evening._

**_PS: I'm the only redhead around this place, so you'll know who to look for :3'_ **

Satisfied with what she wrote, she grabbed her stuff and exited the studio, swinging onto her bike and riding off towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY WE FINALLY MEET RED HOOD! I'm really excited about this chapter and we will definitely be seeing more of him and meet a lot of other people as well! Picking up the pace, so fasten your seatbelts :D (mind you, nothing with me is a race, unless my ass gets competitive)


End file.
